The Central Bank Launches “New Generation” Currency Coins

It was last Monday, March 26, when the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) officially released the New Generation Currency (NGC) coins. It is expected to circulate through banks starting March 27, 2018 without the P0. 10 coin. If you’re confused, the new generation currency is a new design for the Philippine coins. After decades, the BSP decided to take the design up a notch.

The new designs of the NGC Coin Series were in P10.00, P5.00, P1.00, P0.25, P0.05, and P0.01 denominations. In the new generation currency, it features three (3) of the country’s national heroes, and also plants that can be found in the Philippines. The new set of designs have additional security enhancements plus were made with new materials.

Image: news.abs-cbn

Apolinario Mabini is featured on the P10.00 coin with the Kapa-kapa plant at the back.  Then, the P5.00 coin features Andres Bonifacio with the Tayabak plant at the back. Lastly, our national hero Jose Rizal figures in front of the P1.00 coin with the Waling-waling plant at the other side of the coin.

The 25, 5, and 1 centavo coins feature the Philippine flag’s three stars and a sun in front and some of the more common indigenous Philippine plants.

BSP Deputy Governor for Monetary Stability Sector, Diwa C. Guinigundo said:

“The NGC Coin Series design features enhanced the aesthetics and security of the coins,” He also added that, “In particular, micro-printed details using laser-engraving technology were included in the two highest denominated coins, the 10 piso, and 5 piso.”

As per the BSP governor, the designs were results of a two-year long study. He defends the figures seen in the coins and that these will in turn be part of the circulation.

Micro-printed details using laser-engraving technology were used for the P10 and P5 coins, which will make it harder for these coins to be counterfeited, more complicated to replicate. Nickel-plated steel was also employed for these coins in place of alloy to make them more resistant to corrosion.

According to BSP, old coins will remain legal tender and can be used alongside the new generation currency coins for day-to-day transactions until it announces demonetization. Therefore the old coins can still be used by consumers to pay for goods and services.

New-Philippine-Currency-coins
Source: BSP Facebook Page

The NGC Coin Series will be officially launched in July. This is so that they’re in line with the anniversary celebration of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

The BSP announces that a total of 139.567 million pieces of the NGC Coins have been released to banks as of Monday, March 26, 2018.

The following coin-count are broken down as follows:

COIN

QUANTITY

P10.00
10 million pieces
P5.00
77 million pieces
P1.00
19 million pieces
P0.25
9.3 million pieces
P0.05
10.9 million pieces
P0.01
11.1million pieces

The 10-centavo coin was dropped; however, the 1-centavo coin was added to the New Generation Currency coin Series.

The law says that the 1-piso is composed of 100 1-sentimo. You cannot have 1-piso unless you have 1 centavo so you have to produce the 1 centavo. We decided on the choice of nickel-plating because they are more durable, they are more weather resistant” Guinigundo said.

In addition to what the BSP governor mentioned, he also urged the public to look closely at the coins and feel the ridges to be able to distinguish one from another.

The BSP will be staging information campaigns across the country to introduce the new coin series in detail.

With these breaking news, a great number of people retorted inconveniently since the coins have comparable colors, indistinguishable layouts and even its size is almost the same. It would be a lot harder for them to distinguish which is which. But as per Guinigundo, we should have a good feel of the coin in order for us to be sure what we are handling, which is true.

If you come to think of it, it is our utmost responsibility to know what coins we have; we have just been used to the old design. We need to adapt to these changes because the BSP won’t be releasing these New Generation Currency versions if it were a failure. The best and main good thing about this is the security and the newest materials. After some years of it being used, we’ll just be surprised that we’re getting used to using it; that we won’t be required to take a second look anymore to ensure what we have.

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